Just a month or so after augmented reality browser Layar won EUR 75,000 in Vodafone's Mobile Clicks contest, the technology was already being put to work in a custom-designed application for Louisiana's Voodoo Experience music festival.

Layar is a free mobile browser for Android devices and the iPhone that overlays computer-generated information on top of real-time, on-screen images from the handset's built-in camera. The Voodoo app was designed by New Orleans ad firm Zehnder Communications using Layar 2.0 to let festival-goers with enabled phones get information on performances, attractions and services simply by pointing their phone cameras toward key parts of the festival grounds. When viewing concert stages, for instance, one custom AR layer provided information on lineups, schedules and current artists performing, including artist profiles and Web links. Pointing a phone camera at a vendor would show menus and pricing, while other points of interest highlighted by the app included vendor locations, artist displays, restrooms, ATMs, entrances and exits, medical sites and other services. Zehnder was one the first 50 firms worldwide named as developers of the Layar platform. A demo of the Voodoo app is available on Vimeo.

In addition to a whole new world of entertainment and useful information for mobile consumers, augmented reality also opens up a wealth of new OFF=ON opportunities for advertisers. Time to explore the possibilities for *your* tech-savvy brand...?

Website: www.z-comm.com
Contact: jzehnder@z-comm.com

How to broaden your customer base if you're an airline? Remedy people who are too afraid to fly. Back in 1997, Virgin Atlantic started offering courses for fearful flyers. The courses—which are GBP 199 for a full-day session—are reputed to have an extremely high rate of success. Aiming to replicate that success for a much larger crowd of anxious travellers, Virgin Atlantic just launched its first iPhone app: Flying Without Fear.

Following a personal introduction by Sir Richard Branson, the application covers much of the same ground as the in-person courses. Videos run through the in-flight experience, and extensive exercises cover topics like wing movement and turbulence. If struck by a wave of intense anxiety, users can click on the 'fear attack button' for a breathing exercise and other tips, along with Virgin's reassuring words "This is natural. We know you're scared. You will be ok."

The app sells for USD 4.99 and was developed in partnership with Mental Workout, which has also created applications that are meant to help people learn mindful awareness and overcome insomnia. As for Virgin Atlantic: besides increasing its pool of potential customers, it's no secret that well-placed sympathy—the kind that's sincere, not cynical—makes for excellent brand-building. The hard part is getting that right ;-)

Website: www.mentalworkout.com/store/flying-without-fear/iphone/
Contact: www.mentalworkout.com/contact

Aha Mobile is an iPhone app that offers drivers location-based information and entertainment. A personally tailored audio stream not only provides up-to-the-minute traffic info, but also features "shouts"—15 second snippets recorded through the application by other drivers in the area. The idea is that drivers can help each other out by sharing reports on road conditions, extending the real-time connectivity that people have on Facebook or Twitter. Furthering the social element, drivers can belt out tunes in the Caraoke Room, or vent their road rage in the Bad Driver Shout Room.

Aha Mobile's on-screen information is designed to be easily navigable and digestible at a glance; although for safety reasons, people should of course keep their hands off their iPhones while driving. Roadside services can be located with the help of Yelp and SitOrSquat by answering simple on-screen questions: "Hungry?" "Need coffee?" "Need a bathroom?" Drivers can also get alerts when they're approaching red lights or speed cameras.

Aha Mobile's service is available across the US, with special emphasis on the most heavily trafficked urban areas. One to bring to highways and byways in other parts of the world?

Website: www.ahamobile.com
Contact: support@ahamobile.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Despite the best efforts of companies like Disney and Sage Hospitality to reward those who donate their time to charity, the fact remains that volunteerism in the US has declined by 27 percent since 2001, according to app developer Catalista. Hoping to combat that trend, the San Francisco company has created mobile apps for Android and iPhone that make it easy for potential volunteers to find opportunities across the country.

Users begin by downloading the free Catalista application onto their mobile phone--versions are available for both the Android-based T-Mobile G1 and myTouch and Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. The application uses All for Good's open API to connect users with more than 200,000 real-time, local opportunities across the US, offering them numerous chances to give back that day, weekend or month in an effort taking place nearby. Catalista also lets users invite their friends on Facebook to join them in a volunteer effort; in addition, it provides a way for users to track their cumulative impact and rate their volunteering experience once they've done a good deed.

Even beyond the mobile access to volunteer opportunity listings, what seems especially compelling about Catalista is the possibility that it could facilitate spontaneous, ad-hoc volunteering, whereby people with a few hours of unscheduled time on their hands can find and participate in local opportunities that they might not have been able to plan for otherwise. One to partner with or emulate for would-be volunteers in the rest of the world...?

Website: www.catalista.net
Contact: catalina@catalista.net

Spotted by: Brian Somers

There's no shortage of real-world games that use technology to add a virtual element, as we've already seen in such examples as Treasure World, The Hidden Park, LocoMatrix and Swinxs. What's less common is to see classic board games add technological features to their game play, yet that's just what Hasbro has done to its decades-old game Clue.

Clue: Secrets & Spies is a new twist on the classic board game that adds text messaging to its game play. Players in the game are challenged to stop the nefarious Agent Black, who is plotting an assortment of evil capers. To do so, they must go undercover as international agents, complete missions and attend secret meetings. An included "spy light" can be used to reveal secrets, while players' cell phones can be used to receive Spy Text messages that could help or hinder their game. Players need only text the word "SPY" to 90445 to start receiving messages, which will number six in total during the course of a game. Participating mobile operators are AT&T, T-Mobile US, Nextel, Boost, Virgin, US Cellular, NTelos, Dobson, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Cincinnati Bell Wireless; the cost of text messages is not included in the game's USD 24.99 price.

By adding a thoroughly modern twist to a classic game, Hasbro not only stands to attract a younger crowd of mobile-minded users, it also provides yet another illustration of what our sister site calls the OFF=ON trend, whereby the lines separating the online and offline worlds are increasingly blurring. Other game makers: what about you...?

Website: www.hasbro.com/clue/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=24609
Contact: hasbro.custhelp.com

Spotted by: nytimes via Judy McRae